


This Is Your Legacy

by Shade_Penn1



Series: Croft and Son [9]
Category: Devil May Cry, Tomb Raider (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Family Drama, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Mother-Son Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-11
Updated: 2019-04-11
Packaged: 2020-01-11 19:41:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,661
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18430775
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shade_Penn1/pseuds/Shade_Penn1
Summary: Tensions rise when Lara realizes what Nero's career plans really are.





	This Is Your Legacy

Lara was getting worried. The school called, informing her that _again_ Nero was skipping out on some classes and late for others. She frowned and phoned Sam. "Why didn't you tell me the school called before about Nero's absence?"

Sam sighed. "I didn't figure it was anything to worry about. I just thought it was Nero being a teenager, hating school and all that. Besides, kid's going through the longest puberty in history, wouldn't that make anyone crabby and moody?"

Lara furrowed her brow. It _was_ taking a long time for Nero's puberty to settle down. Just when one thing seemed over, it only started back up with another. When Nero grew several inches, she thought her heart stopped due to the crack which came from his demonic arm. It hadn't settled her nerves, even upon realizing it was scales growing in and not bone breaking. "I...suppose."

"You know, it's okay to be a nosy mom. Just go ask him what's wrong. Most all he'll probably do is sulk." Sam replied.

Lara smiled faintly. "Yes, I think that would be a good a start, thank you."

"No problem."

Hanging up the phone, Lara made her way to Nero's room. She breathed in deeply, and knocked. After a moment of no answer, Lara peered inside. Nero was hunched over on his desk, arms folded on a notebook as he snored. Her tension eased, and Lara shook his shoulder once in reach. Nero shook his head, muttering something under his breath as he pulled himself up.

It gave Lara a chance to see the notebook. The smile on her lips dropped. Rather than notes for class, there were nothing but designs of a sword and pistol. Sketches littered the pages she could see, minute details written hastily beside each one. "Nero, what are these?"

Nero rubbed his forehead. "What?" he asked groggily, but his eyes snapped open when he noticed what Lara was looking at. Like a child, he lowered his arms back on the book to cover it. "It's nothing." he muttered.

"With that amount of detail, I wouldn't say it's nothing." Lara replied. "Would this have anything to do with why the school called about you skipping classes?"

Nero's skin reddened. "It wasn't a big deal, and the classes were ones I already got credits for. Besides, it wouldn't help me anyway."

"It'll help you get into a good university." Lara pointed out.

Nero snorted, and glanced up at her. "I don't plan on going to university. I'm gonna hunt demons like the old man."

No matter what Nero would have said, Lara was sure it wouldn't have seized in her chest like this. " _What?_ "

Shrugging, Nero explained, "I can't exactly have a normal career with this," he raised his demonic arm, "so I figured why not just go do good where I can? Dante and his friends are all demon hunters, and I'd probably fit right in with them more anyway."

Lara's thoughts were going a mile a minute. Nero sounded so sure, so absolute that it drained her. "You...talked to Dante about this already?"

"Yeah." Nero replied. "Figured I wasn't going to let the old man go back on his promise, so I've been calling him every now and then. Not sure if he meant it, but he said if 'normal life' didn't work out his door was open."

Lara's mouth thinned into a hard line. "What he does is dangerous. It's just not something you can _choose_ on a whim. Don't you remember how badly it almost went at the museum?"

Nero's expression darkening said he more than remembered. "Yes, and I don't ever want to be caught off guard like that again. We almost died - _you_ -almost died...I have this power and I want to do something with it."

Lara didn't know whether the heavy feeling in her stomach was shame or guilt. How couldn't she have seen the signs? How could she have been so naive to believe that Nero wasn't as deeply affected by the demon attack than he let on? "Sweetheart, you don't need to go out hunting demons to do good."

"Oh really?" Nero's eyes narrowed on her. "So we're just going to pretend that I don't have a magic sword which belonged to my father in my arm?" he raised said arm for emphasis. "The old man told me what it could do, but I can't use it because I can't find a spot to train with it. I can't do anything without someone telling you what I've been up too."

"Nero, that's not-"

"The school called." Nero retorted.

"Because it's their job to report tardiness and absences." Lara replied. "And I'd rather you do something safe than go risking your life at every turn."

"That's so damn hypocritical!" Nero shouted. Lara jerked back, but Nero wasn't finished yet, "You can go on your digs and get into wild adventures that have you coming back with bruises and scars and you don't think _I_ get worried? That one day you're not going to come back?"

"I've never meant to put my life in danger." Lara said, but the context and sheer falseness of the words were hollow even to her. Nero glared at her. Lara's back straightened, and she glared back at him. "Can't you see that I don't want any of that for you? I'd love nothing more than for you to have a safe, boring life where you can be happy and never have to worry about being in constant danger."

"I'm never going to be normal, because _this_ ," Nero raised his right hand, "is always going to be here, reminding me of that."

"That doesn't mean you can't _try_ for a normal life." Lara replied. She tried to reach out to grasp his hand, but Nero pulled it back.

"Like you tried?" Nero spat. Lara went stiff.

There it was, the closest thing to a confirmation Lara ever heard to what she feared most. It wasn't 'you're a bad mother' or 'I hate you', but 'you were never there.' All the anger drained away, leaving behind a tiredness that went right down to her bones.

Nero's hard expression softened, shock replacing his fury as though registering just what he said. "Mom, I-I-"

"I think we both need time to clear our heads." Lara said quietly. She couldn't bring herself to say anymore, and left before either of them could get another word out.

* * *

Nero never wanted to punch something so badly in his life. Himself, for one. How could he say something so thoughtless? His mother loved him, there was never any doubt about it, but to imply she loved exploring the world more than him was low. Nero ran his fingers through his hair, adrenaline still coursing through him that it left his fingers shaking.

_'She started it too though.'_ Nero thought, frowning. Neither of them was blameless in this arguement, but that wasn't exactly the outlet Nero wanted to vent his frustration at. He grabbed his cell phone and held it to his ear.

_"Dev-"_

"This is all your fault!"

There was a short pause on the other line. _"Nero, I should have known your teen angst wasn't gone forever. What'd I do this time?"_ Dante asked, and his cavelier tone made Nero seethe.

"I had an argument with my mom because you put all that stuff into my head about how I could come work with you."

_"Okay, that's really stretching it, kid. And I wasn't actually being serious-you got a good life going for you, why would you wanna throw it all away?"_ Dante replied.

Nero gritted his teeth. Dante did _not_ get to sound like the reasonable one here. "Because I can't have a normal life, not with what I am. Being a demon hunter is all I can probably do now."

There was a longer pause on the other end. _"Kid, are you still hung up about what happened at the museum? I think you need a therapist, not spend your time yelling at me."_

Nero scowled. "I already did talk to one, and that's not what this is about. Everything could have gone so wrong that night. If you and Lady hadn't shown up, Mom and I would be dead because I couldn't get my Devil Trigger to last longer. I _hated_ feeling so useless."

_"You're what, sixteen now? You're still just a kid, Nero-_ "

"I need to be stronger, and hunting down demons will do that!" Nero snapped. He could still the hear the voice which spoke from the Yamato so clearly. "How can I make sure nothing like that night happens again if I don't have more power?"

Dante was silent so long that Nero thought he'd hung up on him. _"Looks like I was wrong, but what else is new?"_ Dante muttered low enough that Nero almost didn't catch it. Before Nero could ask, Dante's voice rose back to normal, _"Nothing would have changed what happened that day, no matter how many 'what-if's you ask yourself. Of course you weren't strong then, you were a kid._ "

Nero glowered into the phone. What the hell kind of talk was this? "I'm almost an adult and I still feel so weak. I haven't been able to make any progress with my Devil Trigger or the Yamato, if I could just unlock more-"

_"Stay the hell away from that stuff, Vergil!"_ Dante snapped.

Nero's eyes widened. "W-what did you just cal-"

_"Nero, I said Nero."_ Dante said quickly. _"You still got a mom, and she's like, an archeologist, right? Why don't you do that?"_

Nero's brow furrowed. "My demon-"

"I'll _show you how to control it._ " There was a heavy silence, and Dante sounded baffled he even said it when he added, "Yeah, might as well. If you're not gonna just gonna give up."

"Of course I wouldn't." Nero muttered. "You mean it though? Like, I can come see you in person, and it's not just you telling me what to do over the phone?"

_"...yeah, my door's always open. I did mean that part."_

Nero let out a long sigh. "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind." he said, and paused before adding, "And also thanks for taking this seriously for fifteen minutes."

_"F-fifteen minutes? I changed my mind, from now on we do all our conversations face-to-face or I'm sending your mom the bill."_

Nero found himself grinning a little despite himself. "Goodbye, Dante."

* * *

Lara thought doing paperwork would help get her mind off things, but it wasn't helping much. Perhaps she should have chosen a different room to do this than her study. Everywhere she looked, all she saw was both from her adventures and the heavy reminder there were as many pictures of Nero as there were of the place's she'd been. _'It had never been safe to take him, not while Trinity was still around then._ she thought, but it was of little reassurance.

Perhaps the faintest of praise was that Nero didn't hate her for being away so much, but that he was disappointed in her cut her so much more deeply. Half the photos on her desk were from times she couldn't even remember being around for. Whenever she could though, Sam always sent a recording of Nero doing something cute.

Lara's gaze lifted to the wall, above the mantle where the picture she'd drawn as a child hung, framed and protected by glass. She would never regret keeping this life, but she did wish she could ask her parents about what to do in this situation. Then again, it wasn't exactly like catching your child sneaking back into the house after a night out on the town.

Lara would have taken that over this. At least she could have just grounded Nero for that. _'It is his life though, do I just let him make his own decisions about his future?'_ she thought. It...wasn't like Lara had done much with regards to his future anyway. Just another failing, that the only thing she felt she was doing right was making sure Nero got the best education he could.

Sighing, Lara set aside her work. She glanced up in time to hear the door opening, and Nero peered in. His face lost much of the baby fat, but right now he still looked so much like a child.

"Hey, Mom, is this a bad time?"

Lara shook her head. "No, come in." She waited unil Nero had taken a seat before asking tentatively, "What brings you here?"

"My feet." Nero answered. He tried to smile, but it was more of a grimace. "Yeah, that was bad." he rubbed his neck. "So, there's no easy way to say this but...I-"

"I'm sorry." Lara and Nero stared at each other, their words echoed together.

Nero blinked owlishly. " _You're_ sorry? But I was the one who-" he stopped, glancing away. "I insulted you."

"And I jumped the gun on what you wanted to do with your life." Lara replied. "I always thought I was doing something right, giving you an education, but...it is your life, and I...I have no right to criticize what you want to do. You were right, it is hypocritical of me to say what I did."

Nero stared at her more, and he nervous rubbed his arm. "Well, thanks for understanding." he said. "But...I decided to hold off on the demon hunter thing." he tried for another smile. It almost looked genuine this time. "Don't want the old man thinking I'm muscling in on his territory."

Lara smiled slightly, but noticed there was something missing. "I will still support you in what you choose."

Nero nodded, and he took a deep breath, as if calming himself for what he was going to say. "I want to be like you. I want to be like grandfather. I want to be an archeologist."

Now it was Lara's turn to stare at him. "You...do?" She wasn't sure how to feel. It was perhaps every parent's dream to hear such a thing from their child, but with the luck her family has had... "You do know that archeologist doesn't mean 'explorer', right? That my main job is always going to be in a museum, right?"

Nero nodded, his eyes sure and serious. "Demon hunting, well, if that happens, it happens, and Dante's at least going to show me how to control my demon power."

It was perhaps a bit early to start celebrating, but Lara found herself smiling wider. "Then...if you're so sure, I can't exactly let you do something without knowing a thing or two." she got up and held out her arm, pulling Nero to his feet. "You want to make a gun and sword? Well, you can't do that without knowing how to use one."

Nero raised a brow. "Dante has those."

Lara smiled coyly. "Yes, but why don't I show you what I know first?"

Now Nero's smile was genuine, a grin tugging at the corners. "That'd be awesome, really show the old man." he slipped his arm through Lara's as they left the study.

"The designs though for your weapons though, were those names I saw written on then?" Lara asked curiously.

Nero flushed, ducking his head. "Red Queen and Blue Rose. After your White Queen, and well, just because I liked the name."

Lara's chest warmed, and she leaned down to bump her head against his. "That's sweet. Do you need help building them?"

"No, I got that covered. I actually found a shop which would help me. The owner, I think his name's Rock, has this daughter whose really good with weapons designing." Nero made a face. "She's kinda crude and a smoker, but she knows her stuff. Her name's Nico, I can introduce you if you want."

Lara thought about it for a moment, before she smiled. "Yes, I'd like that."


End file.
